Senate Leader says "This is Almost Gangster Politics"

The hyperbole is getting heated as the President is expected to sign an executive order that would erase 70 years of efforts to get politics out of official federal business.

There are already safeguards in the system, perhaps they just need to be enforced, or tweaked. But this proposed executive order by the White house is drawing a lot of flak and many say deservedly so.

Under the order, all companies who do business with the government would be required to list their political donations as a condition to bidding for government contracts.

Senate minority Leader McConnell in an interview calls the order the "crassest" political move he's ever seen. "This is almost gangster politics, to shut down people who oppose them. . . . I assure you that this going to create problems for them in many ways—seen and unseen—if they go forward."

Democrats are claiming we deserve to know how federal dollars being paid to contractors are being spent in campaigns. The White House and Democrats tried to pass the Disclose Act last year. The legislation would have forced outside groups to disclose their donors, but it failed to pass Congress after stalling in the Senate.

The administration's argument that this is about disclosure is "a fraud,"says Senator Susan Collins. The order undermines decades of work by her and others to ensure federal business is free of corruption and political influence. It's the "equivalent of repealing the Hatch Act," she argues, the 1939 law designed to weed out federal pay-to-play.

Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Small Business Committee, said that asking for political contribution information from a company during a contract's bidding process disturbed him greatly.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the Oversight panel, said the draft order was "Chicago, hardball politics" that could have "a chilling effect" on contractors who want to participate in the political process. "This executive order is outside of the procurement process," Issa said.

Hans von Spakovsky at the Heritage Foundation said: “It is really amazing— they(Democrats) lost in the Supreme Court, they lost in Congress, they lost at the FEC, so now the president is just going to do it by edict.”